Automation, AI are key topics at EMO Hannover 2025

VDW, an organizer of EMO Hannover 2025, views the mega trends of automation, sustainability, digitalization, and artificial intelligence (AI), as focus topics of the event. However, EMO General Commissioner Carl Martin Welcker explains the current hype surrounding AI shouldn’t blind anyone to the fact that for most visitors there are other, primarily simpler, solutions in the spotlight.

According to Welcker, it is certainly those automation solutions that improve efficiency and quality in the production process that are the real draw. Viewed as the main drivers of innovation, exhibitors are providing a whole host of solutions that range from simple plate changers and handling systems to the use of robots and autonomous factories.

Further development of AI expertise required

The significance AI has now for production technology and could have in the future was explored by Prof. Christian Brecher, Chair of Machine Tools at the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) at RWTH Aachen and representative of the initiative ProKI. Brecher sees generative AI and chat bots such as ChatGPT simply as a visible breakthrough for the general public. The focus of investors and those in research, however, will be on industry-related applications, he concludes. He expects agent systems to have a major impact, which will be capable of executing production tasks autonomously, making decisions and optimizing production processes. Strong AI research is laying important foundations for the future.

Brecher sees motivation coming from developments in Germany, such as the high-tech agenda of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which has declared AI and AI robotics to be key issues. Big investments in AI gigafactories, for example in Jülich, have established an infrastructure. Brecher called on those in the industry to build networks, open data rooms, and participate in eco-systems. Data is a product with which money can be made, the AI expert explained. He called for greater risks to be taken with investments, as well as the expansion of AI expertise through talent and AI projects.

The AI Hub@EMO 2025 in Hall 6, Stand A22, is the central meeting point for all EMO visitors who want to experience, understand, and use AI in production. With interactive demonstrators, the AI-supported chatbot Emil, and real-life application examples, the hub offers guidance and allows visitors to get a better understanding of what AI is. Targeted at trade visitors, developers, and decision-makers – the AI Hub@EMO 2025 invites everyone to discover the potential of AI for their own production and to talk to experts about it.

Photo credit: VDW

Emil will help trade fair visitors to quickly find information relating to AI. Visitors can chat with him, ask him about AI solutions for the metalworking sector, enquire about exhibitors who offer these kinds of solutions, ask him to point out stands on the map of the hall, and much more.

The AI-supported chatbot is based on a Large Language Model (LLM) and was trained on the digital exhibitor profiles from the directory of exhibitors. Visitors can interact with it directly at the terminal in the AI Hub @EMO2025 in German and English.

Demonstrators from the ProKI research network will be showing how AI is used in production. This association of eight German university institutes supports small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the introduction of AI in production.